Showing posts with label Christine K. Simonson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christine K. Simonson. Show all posts

June 7, 2024

20,000 vinyl LPs 364: Grease with a corkscrew & a Duck's Ass

 ~  
vinyl LP front cover detail
photo of album cover by Styrous®


The first Broadway production of Grease opened on June 7, 1972; when it closed in 1980, the 3,388-performance run of Grease was the longest yet in Broadway history, it was surpassed by A Chorus Line on September 29, 1983.            
          
 
vinyl LP front cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®

 
Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, it was named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers and set in 1959 at the fictional Rydell High School in Northwest Chicago (based on Taft High School in Chicago, Illinois, and named after rock singer Bobby Rydell), the musical follows ten working-class teenagers.            
 
 
 
vinyl LP back cover
photo of album cover by Styrous®
 
 
Having been a Greaser when I was in high school in the fifties, I related to Grease in a BIG way. I had a pompadour hairstyle complete with an Elephants Trunk in front (well, the best I could come up with was a corkscrew and I had never heard it called an Elephants Trunk until I researched this article) and a ducktail (commonly called a duck's ass or DA) in the back, all thanks to pounds of pomade. The hair was VERY heavily pomaded (greased, thus, the term Greaser), combed back around the sides, and parted centrally down the back of the head to create the DA. My mother was always furious about my greasy pillow cases.      




Adrienne Barbeau appeared as Rizzo with Timothy Meyers as Kenickie who was a 1972 nominee for Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical.       
 
Replacements later in the run included Jeff Conaway as Danny, Candice Earley as Sandy who was also in Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar; Peter Gallagher as Danny, Richard Gere as Sonny, Ilene Graff as Sandy, Randee Heller as Rizzo, Marilu Henner as Marty, Judy Kaye as Rizzo, Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Rizzo, Patrick Swayze as Danny, John Travolta as Doody and Treat Williams as Danny.           
 
 
 
 
vinyl LP back cover
detail photos of album cover by Styrous®
 

 
 
 
 
vinyl LP back cover details
detail photos by Styrous®
 
 
As usual, I have favorite songs, Greased Lightnin', of course, and Born To Hand Jive are at the top of my list.           
 
 
 
 
vinyl LP back cover details
detail photos by Styrous®
 
 
 
Grease went on to become a West End hit, a successful feature film, two popular Broadway revivals in 1994 and 2007, and a staple of regional theatre, summer stock, community theatre, and high school and middle school drama groups. It remains Broadway's 17th longest-running show.        
      
In 1978 Grease was adapted as a feature film also named Grease starring John Travolta (who had been in stage productions in a different role) and British-Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John. The film version changed some plot elements, characters, and songs while adding new songs and elaborating on some plot elements only alluded to in the musical.       
    

vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
 
There have been professional productions of Grease in Argentina, Austria, Canada and Mexico. A Spanish revival ran successfully at Teatre Victòria, Barcelona from October 3, 2006, to January 6, 2008. After a short national tour, the production was transferred to Teatro Nuevo Alcalá, Madrid, where it ran from October 14, 2008, to January 31, 2010, and then continued touring Spain until it finally closed on August 1, 2010, becoming one of Spain's all-time longest running musical productions, with 1,090 performances.        
 

vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
 
   
Tracklist:
       
Side 1:
        
A1 - Alma Mater
A2 - Alma Mater (Parody) - 2:46
A3 - Summer Nights - 3:40
A4 - Those Magic Changes - 2:45
A5 - Freddy, My Love - 3:04
A6 - Greased Lightnin'    2:28
A7 - Mooning - 2:44
A8 - Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee - 1:56
A9 - We Go Together - 2:23
       
Side 2:
       
B1 - It's Raining On Prom Night - 2:26
B2 - Born To Hand Jive, Featuring – Grease Company* - 4:20
B3 - Beauty School Dropout, Featuring – Grease Choir* - 3:02
B4 - Alone At A Drive-In Movie - 2:49
B5 - Rock 'N' Roll Party Queen - 1:35
B6 - There Are Worse Things I Could Do - 2:44
B7 - Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise) - 2:16
B8 - All Choked Up, Featuring – Grease Company* - 3:21
B9 - We Go Together (Reprise), Featuring – Grease Company* - 1:57
       
Credits:
       
    Directed By – Tom Moore (4)
    Directed By [Staging Musical Numbers & Dances] – Patricia Birch
    Directed By, Arranged By [Vocal & Dance] – Louis St. Louis
    Engineer – Fred Christy
    Music By, Lyrics By – Jim Jacobs (2), Warren Casey
    Orchestrated By – Michael Leonard
    Presenter – Anthony D'Amato (2), Kenneth Waissman, Maxine Fox
    Producer – Arnold Maxin
    Producer [Associate] – Landy McNeal
    Technician [Sound By] – Jack Shearing
    Vocals [Betty Rizzo] – Adrienne Barbeau (tracks: A5, A8, B6)
    Vocals [Burger Palace Boy] – Daniel Deitch (tracks: A2, A3, A4, A6, A9, B4)
    Vocals [Cha-cha Di Gregorio] – Kathi Moss (tracks: B1)
    Vocals [Danny Zuko] – Barry Bostwick (tracks: A3, B4, B8)
    Vocals [Doody] – James Canning (tracks: A4, B5)
    Vocals [Eugene Florczyk] – Tom Harris (2) (tracks: A1)
    Vocals [Frenchy] – Marya Small (tracks: A5, B3)
    Vocals [Jan] – Garn Stephens (tracks: A5, A7)
    Vocals [Kenickie] – Timothy Meyers (tracks: A6)
    Vocals [Marty] – Katie Hanley (tracks: A5)
    Vocals [Miss Lynch] – Dorothy Leon (tracks: A1)
    Vocals [Patty Simcox] – Ilene Kristen (tracks: A1)
    Vocals [Pink Lady] – Joy Rinaldi (tracks: A2, A3, A4, A9)
    Vocals [Roger] – Walter Bobbie (tracks: A7, B5)
    Vocals [Sandy Dumbrowski] – Carole Demas (tracks: A3, B1, B7, B8)
    Vocals [Sonny] – Jim Borrelli (tracks: B9)
    Vocals [Teen Angel, Johnny Casino] – Alan Paul (tracks: B2, B3)
    Vocals [Vince Fontaine] – Don Billett (tracks: B9)
       
Notes:
       
"A New 50's Rock 'N Roll Musical"
Recorded at Media Sound, NY, NY.
Also numbered MGS 2812 & 2813 (A & B).
       
Barcode and Other Identifiers
        
    Matrix / Runout (Side 1): A-1 KL-1-SE-34-AS-1-K MASTERDISK G.K.
    Matrix / Runout (Side 2): A-1 KL-1-SE-34-BS-1-K MASTERDISK G.K.
 
Various – Grease - The Original Broadway Cast Album
Label:    MGM Records – 1SE-34 OC, Lion Records (4) – none
Format:    Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1972
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Musical


         
Viewfinder links:         
Adrienne Barbeau          
Warren Casey          
Jeff Conaway             
Marilu Henner            
Jim Jacobs        
Olivia Newton John        
Bobby Rydell         
Christine K. Simonson              
Patrick Swayze           
John Travolta        
Treat Williams             
        
Net links:               
Playbill ~ Grease        
        
YouTube links:        
         
Born To Hand Jive            
Greased Lightnin'        
Grease Original Cast (complete)        
Elephants Trunk and DA/Ducktail (2 min., 58 secs.)       
        
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Friday, June 7, 2024      
       
 
 















February 3, 2024

78 RPMs 10: Amapola ~ Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra w/Bob Eberly & Helen O'Connel

  ~  

10" 78 RPM record
photo by Styrous®


On Monday, February 3, 1941, Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Amapola with vocalists Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly. It was a gigantic hit a decade before the concept of "Top 40" in the early 1950s.      

My memories of the song are delightful! My mother and father were into swing music and loved to dance with each other, this song amongst hundreds of others. Mom sang other songs but this song stands out vividly as she sang them to me to put me to sleep.    
 
The recorded version by Dorsey, Eberly and O'Connel was a swing version which was a 1920's tune written by Spanish American composer José María Lacalle García and adapted to the new swing era. It starts out with a languid and sensual tango rhythm with Dorsey on his clarinet. 
 
Eberly enters and the song goes into a moderately slow ballad. O'Connel hits the scene and it's a lively, jazzy swing song. Mom only sang the ballad version to me.        
          
Many people covered the song: Roberto Carlos with a 50's doo wop and os course, Crosby with a cha cha ballad. Haymarket Square did a Psychedelic cover in the sixties, of course. Not to be missed is The Spotnicks a Swedish group with another wacked out 60's version, space suits 'n all.          

Ennio Morricone used the song in the Sergio Leone film, Once Upon s Time In America, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods.             
 
Opera didn't shy away either, Tito Schipa (1926), Nino Martini (1941), Jan Peerce (1950), Alfredo Kraus (1959) and Luigi Alva (1963). Tatsuro Yamashita did a wonderful cover in his 1986 a cappella album On The Street Corner 2. In 1990 Amapola was sung during the first Three Tenors concert in Rome.          
         
   
 
   
   
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)
Vocals – Bob Eberly, Helen O'Connell
Written By Albert Gamse, Joseph M. Lacalle*

Side 2:

B - Donna Maria
Vocals – Bob Eberly
Written By Allie Wrubel

Credits:

    Manufactured By – Decca Records, Inc.

    Alto Saxophone [Uncredited] – Milt Yaner, Sam Rubinowitch
    Bass [Uncredited] – Jack Ryan
    Drums [Uncredited] – Buddy Schutz
    Guitar [Uncredited] – Guy Smith (2)
    Leader, Alto Saxophone [Uncredited], Clarinet [Uncredited] – Jimmy Dorsey
    Piano [Uncredited] – Joe Lipman
    Tenor Saxophone [Uncredited] – Charles Frazier, Herbie Haymer
    Trombone [Uncredited] – Don Matteson, Nat Lobovsky, Sonny Lee
    Trumpet [Uncredited] – Jimmy Campbell (6), Nate Kazebier, Shorty Solomon

Notes:

Both Sides: Fox Trot, Vocal Chorus

Recorded February 3, 1941, New York

Manufactured in U.S.A. By Decca Records, INC.
Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.

Credits from Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2022

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Side A): 68652
    Matrix / Runout (Side B): 68650
    Matrix / Runout (A side stamped variant 1): 68652A 0
    Matrix / Runout (B side stamped variant 1): 68650A 0
    Matrix / Runout (A side stamped variant 2): 68652A X
    Matrix / Runout (B side stamped variant 2): 68650A

Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra – Amapola / Donna Maria
Label: Decca – 3629
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1941
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Big Band





Viewfinder links:       
        
Jimmy Dorsey       
Bob Eberly        
Angel Morales           
Ennio Morricone       
Helen O'Connell        
Carlos Scaffino Picasso               
Tito Schipa                 
Christine K. Simonson        
The Three Tenors           
Tatsuro Yamashita       
        
Net links:       
       
Steemit ~ Amapola ~ Long Psychedelic Song!      
       
YouTube links:       
   
             Amapola               
             Gene Autry (1947)       
             Roberto Carlos            
             Bing Crosby        
             Haymarket Square              
             Ennio Morricone       
             The Spotnicks (1963)       
             Tatsuro Yamashita              
             Opera ~         
             Luigi Alva         
             Alfredo Kraus
             Nino Martini           
             Jan Peerce        
             Tito Schipa         
             The Three Tenors          
        
        
        
       
        
        
        
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Saturday, February 3, 2024       
       
 
 
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May 14, 2023

Christine Simonson ~ Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

 ~        
 Christine Simonson ~ 
"Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" - 1940
photo by Styrous®
 
 
 

 
 
 


 
 
 

 
 
        
        
        
        
        
Viewfinder links:        
        
        
        
         
        
Net links:        
        
         
        
        
         
        
        
YouTube links:        
        
         
        
        
         
        
        
        
        
         
        
         
        
Styrous® ~ Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2023                 












December 7, 2021

Remember Pearl Harbor ~ 80 years later

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"Remember Pearl Harbor" - December 7, 1941
"Sweetheart" pin
 
 
Today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to declare war on the Empire of Japan, making the attack on Pearl Harbor the immediate cause of the United States' entry into World War II.  
        
        
Pearl Harbor - aerial photo


Although I was a baby when it happened, it impacted my early years as I lived through the war with its restrictions and "patriotic" enthusiasm in many aspects of my life, mostly the music of the time; The Andrews Sisters, Kay Kyser, Vera Lynn (links below) and many others.    
 
After the war began, many artifacts, mostly jewelry worn by women as in the photo above, carried the simple expression, "Remember Pearl Harbor." My mother had a pin, a plain bar with that expression which had a real pearl in place of the word "Pearl".               

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack, is supposed to have said in the aftermath, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”      

                
Viewfinder links:        
        
The Andrews Sisters        
Kay Kyser         
Vera Lynn         
Pearl Harbors        
Christine K. Simonson        
        
Net links:        
        
History ~ Pearl Harbor         
National Park Service ~ Pearl Harbor        
Time ~ 3 myths about Pearl Harbor        
USA Today ~ Pearl Harbor led to a changed world        
        
YouTube links:        
        
The Andrews Sisters ~         
             Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy        
             Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree                 
             I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time                 
Kay Kyser ~ Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition        
Vera Lynn ~       
             We'll Meet Again         
             The White cliffs of Dover         
        
        
         
        
         
        
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, December 7, 2021                 














November 23, 2021

The Simonsons ~ Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23, 1961

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Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23, 1961, sixty years ago today. This day of celebration was the most important holiday of the year for my mom, Christine. She would do it up big with all the fixin's: gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, pies, cookies, etc, a bit high carb i guess. A few times Ben, my dad, and Chris invited service men with nowhere to go for the holiday to share our dinner. Mom died ten years ago this month on November 4, 2011, twenty days short of The Big Day, a bit of irony. This is a memory of my mom, my family and Thanksgiving.   
 
 









photos by Styrous®








Ken  






 













Ben & Christine



   


with Christine 

















Christine & Ken





with Ken












John & Steve








Ken, John & Steve











front: Ken
back: w/John, left & Steve, right











The Simonson Family ~ Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 23, 1961 



 
 
Viewfinder links:    
       
Styrous®       
Thanksgivings       
        
Net link:    
       
Calendar ~ Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23, 1961       
        
       
        
Giving Thanks!
       
       
       
Styrous® ~ Thursday, November 25, 2021